Join Nick Spencer for a live recording of Reading Our Times where he will be joined by economist and member of the House of Lords Robert Skidelsky.
Once upon a time, we had faith in technology. Machines would make our lives easier, simpler, more comfortable.
Today… well, faith in technological fixes for our problems is on the wane. Worse, it’s often replaced with fear. The companies want our data. The robots want our jobs. The government our freedoms.
In his latest book, The Machine Age, Robert Skidelsky looks at humanity’s long relationship with machines, exploring how we got here and what happens next. How serious is the risk of mass unemployment, a world of politicised deep–fakes, a Chinese–style social credit system? And what, if anything, can we do about them?
Reading our Times is the podcast from Theos think tank that engages with the books and ideas that are shaping the world today. It is hosted by Theos’ Senior Fellow, Nick Spencer. In this special live recording, Robert Skidelsky joins Nick to discuss The Machine Age: an idea, a history, a warning.
Robert Skidelsky is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick, and has been a life peer since 1991, and a Fellow of the British Academy since 1994.
Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos and author of a number of books, most recently Magisteria: the entangled histories of science and religion.
About Reading Our Times
Reading Our Times has been going since 2020, since when it has tackled the biggest issues of the day – from equality to meritocracy, liberalism to populism, consciousness to the soul – with some of the world’s leading authors and thinkers, including Michael Sandel, Marilynne Robinson, Rowan Williams, and Daniel Dennett. It introduces listeners to some of the most important books of our time and in so doing explores not only the age in which we live, but also the kind of people we are.
You can find past episodes of Reading Our Times here.
Follow us on Twitter @theosthinktank and @theosnick.
Event Details
Location: Old Queen Street Cafe, 6 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
Date: 28/11/2023
Time: 18:00
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